Herrera Tresckow
Herrera Tresckow (ヘレラ・トレスコー; Herera Toresukō) was the oldest host of the jinki fragment and former arrancar member of . He secretly plotted to assassinate , but his plot failed after it was revealed by . Herrera fled into the deserts of Hueco Mundo, where he remained in hiding until Aizen's . Herrera later would become the King of Las Noches and self-proclaimed overlord of after taking over the abandoned fortress. He was presumably the strongest arrancar following the fall of the Espada. Biography Early years Herrera was a ferret-like prior to Aizen's arrival in Hueco Mundo. He was chosen by the Mūgyoku to embody the desire of influence to balance the desire of territory. The hollow originally was not aware of such powers, living his life similarly to other hollows. It was when he met Yū Nakamura in the did Herrera learn about his latent powers as a fragment. Herrera was looking something to entertain himself with when he found Yū at a local marketplace. At first, Herrera paid no attention to Yū but he realized that Yū was spiritually aware when the other walked up to him and introduced herself, unaware of his true nature. Herrera contemplated attacking the human when he felt the presence of a shinigami. Assuming that the shinigami was here to protect the human, Herrera charged and fired a cero at the incoming shinigami. But the shinigami easily evaded the attack, drawing his zanpakutō and engaged Herrera in close-quarters combat. Despite being pushed back, Herrera voiced his observation of the other holding back for some reason, stating that it was not typical for a shinigami to do so. The shinigami acknowledged Herrera's observation, introducing himself as Mūkade. Cautious of Mūkade, Herrera asked him if he had ulterior motives, to which the other confirmed. From there, Herrera demanded that the other explain himself. Mūkade simply told him that he was here to harvest jinki fragments and had no interest in following shinigami laws, also noting that Herrera was quite "chatty" for a hollow. Herrera assumed that meant that Yū had a jinki fragment and, despite not understanding what possessing a fragment would imply, decided that it was in his best interests to keep Yū away from Mūkade. However, Herrera took into consideration that it would be difficult to flee with Yū without defeating Mūkade first. Continuing to fight Mūkade, Herrera was caught in a binding spell and was about to be dealt a finishing blow when Yū intervened with her fragment power of Harmony. It distracted Mūkade long enough for Herrera to activate his own innate fragment powers, escaping the spell as well as Mūkade's final blow. Herrera ordered Yū to hold onto him and the two fled from the market. In an alleyway, the two rested from the confrontation and Yū asked Herrera if he was ok. Despite having serious wounds, Herrera dismissed any concerns that Yū had. Then, Yū slowly passed away from overexerting herself with the display of power. As a plus, Yū advised Herrera to return home before Mūkade found them again, to which Herrera readily agreed. After Yū's soul burial, Herrera lamented not eating Yū to ensure that the fragment would never come into Mūkade's hands. But he realized in retrospect that Yū's power was holding back his desire to devour her since the beginning. Embarrassed by being manipulated by a human, Herrera returned to Hueco Mundo and said nothing of his encounter with Yū or Mūkade. Meeting Aizen Sometime before Aizen arrived, Herrera rose to the ranks of the Espada, though everything changed once Aizen assumed power. The arrancar hated Aizen and his shinigami allies, especially Aizen himself, for "waltzing in and assuming leadership." Aizen saw the strength that Herrera had and transformed him into an arrancar with the Hōgyoku, allowing Herrera to remain in the altered Espada. As with many other arrancars, Herrera failed to defeat Aizen at their first encounter, much to Herrera's anger and frustration. Even though he was given greater power with the , Herrera grudgingly submitted to Aizen, deciding to use his new powers to bring about Aizen's fall later. commented that he did not trust Herrera, to which Aizen replied that he had his uses, given the proper motivation. Herrera was given orders to scout Hueco Mundo in search for Vasto Lordes, though he used the opportunity to plot an insurrection against Aizen. Assassination plot Under Aizen, Herrera has been plotting to assassinate Aizen out of discontent with his superior, believing it to be insulting to be taking orders from shinigami. He planned on recruiting and , though his plans were discovered before Herrera could make secret contact with either of them. His underground movement only consisted of Numerós at the time of the discovery, and such discovery was only made when a newer member accidentally mentioned the resistance movement in public. Herrera was the second-to-last member of the original Espada at the time, leaving to be the last. The assassination plan consisted of Herrera announcing to Aizen that he located a Vasto Lorde, in order to lure Aizen away from the other shinigami. Herrera would quickly dispatch Aizen while his subordinates hold the attention of the other two shinigami, preventing them from joining forces. Herrera would then return to help deal with the two shinigami. But the plan could never be executed. Aaroniero ate one of Herrera's supporters, discovering and publicly unveiling Herrera's plans to kill Aizen. While leaving Las Noches, he was ambushed by . Nnoitra's attack succeeded in severing Herrera's left arm, forcing the latter to fall back. With Nnoitra blocking the way, Herrera released his resurrección and attempting to fight his way out, knowing that he had no time to waste fighting other members of the Espada. While in resurrección, Herrera took the spiritual particles of his released zanpakutō and constructed a primitive arm to use as a second weapon while reducing blood loss from his grievous wound. Although surprised by Herrera's tactics, Nnoitra continued his attempt to kill Herrera, charging into him unfazed when Herrera's sword seemingly cut through him without causing any injury. He was shocked when he began coughing up blood. Herrera explained to him that he only shed the outer layer of his zanpakutō to produce his claw arm, leaving only the center of the weapon to hold the ability to cause injury. Nnoitra questioned such a power, claiming that it was impossible for an arrancar to combine with his weapon. Herrera did not explain himself further, impaling Nnoitra with his claw hand and fleeing to the exit of Las Noches. Moments before Herrera fled from Las Noches, he fired a Gran Rey Cero into the fortress from the entrance. The resulting explosion caused structural damage and a portion of the palace crumbled. The were about to give chase, but Aizen ordered them to stop, saying that Herrera would not challenge his rule again. Aizen revealed that he knew about the planned insurrection from the start, and planned to crush the resistance before Herrera could become a threat. In doing so, Aizen would be able to wipe out the majority of his enemies inside Hueco Mundo before they could become a threat. Return to power Herrera struggled to rebuild his resistance as hollows were drawn in by Aizen's promise for greater power. As a symbol of his exile, Herrera burned away the tattoo on the back of his neck. While in exile, Herrera refined the form of his new arm, making it sleeker and more efficient. His followers were small in numbers when Aizen finally fell to the shinigami forces and Herrera used the event to his advantage by rapidly expanding his own forces. Herrera did not enforce any form of order amongst his men, resulting in his hollows devouring each other. Although it limited his manpower, the competition among his own men resulted in an elite force that was feared in Hueco Mundo. They were nicknamed the Red Devils due to their vicious members and sometimes needless bloodshed. The members within the Red Devils were strong, indispensable soldiers that respected each others' strengths. Due to the nature of the Red Devils' training doctrine, Herrera placed Luccia Botta in charge of scouting out new recruits as his second-in-command. Herrera consolidated his forces and attacked Las Noches, taking over the complex with ease and crowned himself the King of Las Noches. He kept his forces together within the palace, seeing himself as the only major power that remained in Hueco Mundo. In essence, Herrera became the army that monitored for Soul Society activity, assuming the task that Baraggan once took. Even as king, Herrera kept his control over his minions to a minimum, allowing them to attack each other or trail off to the human world to feed. He only warned them to be mindful of the consequences of their actions and that he would not take any risks to rescue them. Warring Powers era Sometime after Herrera's claim to the throne of Las Noches, he was approached by the Espada Afilado for a proposal for an alliance. Herrera immediately denied the Espada Afilado's proposal, believing that it was impossible for hollows to be able to form a unified power to fight the . After the messenger left, Herrera, confiding to Luccia, concluded that the Afilado would attempt to bring other hollows into its organization. Herrera used his influential powers to plant thoughts of doubt to the Afilado's likelihood of success around Hueco Mundo. Although the Espada Afilado did not directly respond to Herrera's political tactics, countering the negative propaganda aimed at Afilado integrity, members of Herrera's army independent struck out against Afilado-aligned pocket groups. These acts of violence resulted in small skirmishes with no significant outcome and moderate casualties on both sides. Hoping to goad the Afilado into a conflict, given that the Espada Afilado were already engaging another hollow military in a war, Herrera allowed his hollow army to fight, though he did not endorse or encourage his men's activity. Herrera wanted to take advantage of the conflict to cripple both armies and leave himself as the undisputed power within Hueco Mundo. Personality and traits Unlike other arrancars, Herrera was not hungry for blood. He refused to travel to the human world to hunt down spirits to eat and explained himself by saying that they tasted terrible and thus hardly worth the effort. He also believed that hollows were innately individualistic, and should never have to obey shinigami. His list of morals seem to be limited, as he rarely cared for his minions, allowing them to fight along themselves so that his army as a whole could become stronger. Herrera also would not risk his life to save another of his followers, unless it would prove detrimental to the future of his army. Part of this, Herrera explained, was to force his followers to build their own strength and rely on themselves for power. He reasoned that leaning on others for aid was an unstable reserve of power that should be kept as a last resort. Herrera does not seem to hold the other possessors of jinki fragments in any regard, perhaps due to his relationship with a host he met in the past. Although he seemed to be somewhat nicer to other hosts, perhaps as a result of being saved by one, the difference in treatment between the fragment hosts and other individuals appear minimal. On numerous occasions, Herrera has proven himself to be deceitful through lying, half-truths, and equivocations, among other means of verbal manipulation. He was theorized to have convinced a number of his followers to join him, in his years under Aizen, through a combination of preying on their lack of knowledge and implying circumstances with potentially questionable outcomes. His argument, using the fallen Aizen as an example, of hollows never relying on shinigami, was exemplary of Herrera's deceit. Herrera knew how to make his arguments convincing, allowing him to cover his inaccurate words with both partial and whole truths. Though ignorant to the hypnotic powers of Aizen's zanpakutō, , Herrera was confident that he could deceive his superior until the very last moment. Although confident, Herrera was not arrogant about it, being weary of the power of his shinigami overlords. He planned to eradicate all of them quickly, to utilize the element of surprise in order to crush the opposition before it could be mounted against him. Herrera also expressed an ability to quickly improvise when a plan goes wrong, such as when he used his Gran Rey Cero within Las Noches to provide a distraction as he made a get-away following the exposure of his resistance movement. Herrera grew to believe, after fleeing from Aizen's army, that he could not trust anyone other than himself, cutting himself off from the rest of the world during the time of Aizen's reign. Without any strength to trust others, Herrera's care for others' well-being was limited to his concern for his own safety, as well as the continued existence of his army. Even so, Herrera continued to show outstanding charisma, consistently convincing more to join or continue to follow him. Luccia Botta was the only arrancar who Herrera was capable of trusting. Although Herrera did not like the Gotei 13, he fully understood their intentions. Since the spirits within the human world had no way of protecting themselves, it was up to others to do so for them. He reasoned that the Gotei 13's existence was also beneficial to the hollows, since that the shinigami helped weed out the weak hollows and leave only the strong to contend for power. With that balance in place, Herrera believed that life was a struggle to become more powerful more quickly than the opposition. Powers and abilities Immerse Spiritual Pressure: From centuries of experience, before Aizen appeared, Herrera was able to manifest himself into a deadly force. Herrera's strength was comparable to that of Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck during his time in the Espada, since he was only a rank lower than the other. However, Herrera's strength grew considerably since his time in hiding. Even Raian Getsueikirite commented that Herrera had a powerful presence when they first met, though the canonicity of their meeting is disputable. Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Herrera placed much focus into learning the art of the sword, producing a style of combat that combined both fluid movements and brutal efficiency. He used both the edge of his sword and the talon-like fingers of his clawed hand to great effect. Master Hand-to-hand Combatant: With his skeletal hand, Herrera was a highly capable fighter without using his zanpakutō. He preferred to defeat opponents with his hand and claw, though he does not hesitate in drawing his weapon against stronger enemies. Since his claw was created from fragments of his zanpakutō, Herrera's arm was nearly indestructible and capable of cutting through . The clawed hand had the ability to negate kidō, forcing enemies to engage him in close combat. Master Strategist and Tactician: Although the assassination plot that was intended for Aizen was relatively simple in design, Herrera understood that the complexity of the plan laid in the execution of the steps. Herrera did not hesitate to improvise when necessary, believing that the most well planned tactics never survive contact with the enemy. : As with most arrancars, Herrera had shown the ability to use cero. * : Moments before he made his escape, Herrera defiantly fired a Gran Rey Cero within Las Noches, causing enormous structural damage. He stated that the cero would have obliterated the building if he had the time to charge the cero to cause more devastation, though doubtful that it would have caused anything more than injury to the building's occupants, anyways. Herrera has developed his Gran Rey Cero to the point of being capable of charging two of them at once: one from each palm. Enhanced Strength: Herrera demonstrated incredible strength when he crushed the skull of a burly hollow who challenged his claim as King of Hueco Mundo, despite the other struggling against his one-handed grip. : Herrera had a strong hierro, being capable of blocking a multitude of shikai-strength sword strikes with his arm, even hooking his arm around the blade to halt its movement, while fighting a shinigami lieutenant. : Herrera was considered the greatest practitioner of pesquisa in the original Espada. His skills in the technique allowed him to analyze others to the point of telling who the target being interacted with within the past day. He could discern a lot of information about other peoples' spiritual levels and strengths by looking at them and perceive slight changes in other people's emotions. His skill in pesquisa allowed Herrera to even track down a target after memorizing his target's aura. : Although he was capable of using the technique, Herrera frequently avoided using sonído in his combative style. For him to begin resorting to tactics that heavily rely on sonído often indicated how serious Herrera was about winning a fight. He primarily used sonído to chase down fleeing enemies. : Herrera could create a garganta to travel between dimensions. Combined with his skill in pesquisa, Herrera could even ambush enemies found in a different dimensions. Jinki Fragment Herrera was the last surviving member of the original jinki fragments and believed to be the most experienced user of a jinki fragment still alive. Herrera's fragment of desire was [[wikipedia:Social influence|'influence']], indicated in his charismatic personality, directly contrasting the desire for territory. It remains uncertain where Herrera's own charisma was distinguished from the power of his jinki fragment, if there is any distinction at all. It was hinted that Herrera was capable of producing his left arm from his zanpakutō due to his jinki fragment. If he deemed it necessary, Herrera could atomize his left arm and return the spiritual particles to his zanpakutō, enhancing the blade's power to gargantuan proportions. Regardless of whether Herrera had natural charisma or if he drew on its power as an arrancar, Herrera was highly capable of using his fragment power to great potential. He utilized it to present an incredibly intimidating appearance to others, as well as inspire his followers to great extremes. It was also possible for Herrera to use his power to give an appearance of weakness, luring in his enemies for a powerful attack. Herrera's power of influence could be contagious if Herrera willed it, as though the strength of his words were passed down by others who he has met. This allowed him to spread the word of his notoriety to others at an alarming rate and cause individuals who he had never met to acknowledge, if not feel afraid of, his power. With this power, Herrera could also plant false information that circulates among numerous individuals, to give the impression of a truth. Herrera's power of influence extended to illusory abilities, allowing Herrera to manipulate the senses of others. The power could be likened to hypnosis in that the subject was prone to suggestions given by Herrera when in a state of reduced peripheral awareness, due to his charismatic personality. With this power, Herrera could turn allies against each other, making them believe each other to be enemies. He was also known to use his sensory-manipulating powers to cause his opponents to suffer under effects resembling drunkenness, with both the difficulty to maintain one's balance as well as unfocused vision. With the jinki fragment, Herrera could even affect the environment around him. His powers were capable of distorting the composition and shape of surfaces to suit himself both in and out of combat, as well as affect inertia, gravity, and even the perception of time. However, everyone within the vicinity of the sudden change, including Herrera, would be affected by such changes. The atmosphere around Herrera is not exempt from Herrera's manipulation, capable of interfering with the external flow of reiatsu. Given enough time, Herrera can brainwash his victims into believing nearly anything he wanted. This could only be done over the span of around three days, with more or less time added depending on how resilient the individual is to Herrera's fragment. Herrera claimed that he can affect any individual with a week's worth of time. Inner Desire After unwittingly unleashing the essence of his fragment, Herrera no longer spoke, appearing mute. However, others knew what he wanted or what he was suggesting just by being in Herrera's presence. He was seemingly omniscient, though his knowledge stemmed from others being within his presence. With this power, Herrera was capable of telling what others wanted to do, using this ability to communicate or taunt other individuals. Herrera's ability to affect the environment was multiplied to unprecedented levels, allowing him to change the composition and shape of the environment without limit. He could dissipate reiatsu, breaking down an ability's potency to a near-negligible level. However, Herrera was not able to control this power, becoming bent to the desire to become a deity. He wanted to surpass both the Taikyōkū and the Mūgyoku, as well as all other jinki fragments, and become an even greater being. Because of this, the inner desire manipulated the fabrications of its own existence through the power of influence, allowing it to break from any sort of restraints placed on its ability to grow more powerful. This included preventing the fragment from being reincarnated into a new being, despite Herrera slowly dying from the desynchronized manifestation of his inner desire. If the inner influence remains in control long enough, Herrera's body would become a shell through which the influence fragment would work its ambition. Zanpakutō Herrera's zanpakutō, named Comadreja (鎌ど獣歯 (カーマドレハ); kāmadoreha; Spanish for "Weasel", Japanese for "Sickled Beast Tooth"), usually was sheathed at his side, resembling a typical wakizashi. The hilt featured a yellow tassel and the guard consisted of four short prongs with the sharp tips facing the same direction as the blade tip. It was released by the word Tear (裂く; saku). Formerly, the zanpakutō did not have the ability to cut and heal at the same time, since Herrera altered his sword in resurrección during his brief duel with Nnoitra Gilga. It seemed to be able to counter kidō spells, since his clawed hand held that ability. By focusing on his zanpakutō with sensory abilities, one could tell that the spiritual structure of Herrera's zanpakutō was unstable. When Herrera uses his jinki fragment to atomize his artificial arm and remold it into his zanpakutō, the blade returns to its full powered state, releasing a large amount of reiatsu in the process. * Resurrección: When Herrera released, he became more ferret-like in appearance. Both of Herrera's hands become claws, instead of just his left arm, replacing his zanpakutō. :* Resurrección special ability: In this form, Herrera's claws were capable of incurring internal injuries to his enemies without causing external damage. This occurred by abnormal properties of the blade, mending spiritual particles, while the core of the blade still held cutting power. To add to this ability, Herrera's claws were coated in a poison designed to sap energy when it enters one's bloodstream, gradually making his victim unable to effectively fight back. ::*'Enhanced speed and agility:' Herrera's impressive agility was further augmented while in resurrección, surpassing that of a captain's flash step. He was capable of attacking so quickly that the human eye is incapable of noticing any movement. ::*'Enhanced strength:' Herrera's strength increased to the point of allowing him to cause serious wounds with glancing blows, though such strength was shown against hollows who opposed him. ::*'Enhanced hierro:' His skin, further augmented by resurrección, allowed Herrera to take the full blow of the hadō spell Twin Lotus, Crash Down with no visible injuries. Appearances * Allies of Old: Malla vs Herrera (non-canon) * The Hollow Threat (first appearance; non-canon) * Shadows of the Past * Tale of Herrera * B13ACH: The Grand Finale (non-canon) Quotes * "The struggle between hollows and shinigami is simple: one has to grow strong faster than the other, or get crushed as a result." Behind the scenes thumb|150px|right|Selected theme for Herrera Herrera was designed to go against the evil archetype that was present in arrancars, with the intention to be an antihero-like character. On the Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes from TV Tropes, Herrera would fit under Type V: Hero in Name Only. He was named after Spanish architect Juan de Herrera and German World War II officer Henning von Tresckow, who headed a coup that almost killed Hitler. Herrera's name was originally Herrera Tresckohen, though shortened to Tresckow to better reflect the surname of the German officer. Herrera is easily the most elaborate work by Lavi so far, with a deeper personality than any previously made character. The article is also the second by Lavi to use numerous references to canon characters and events, filling in gaps left by the mangaka. Herrera's aspect of death was Deception. European superstitions involving weasels say that they are the form taken by witches and banshees, and considered to be the herald of death. It was also considered unlucky to kill a weasel, or to have one cross one's own path. The kamaitachi was a Japanese mythological creature that was said to operate in groups of threes that moved extraordinarily quickly. The first kamaitachi knocked over the victim, the second caused a wound, and the third healed the wound, leaving the victim to suddenly feel excruciating pain without an apparent reason. Through coincidence, Herrera Tresckow and Raian Getsueikirite could be seen as the antithesis of each other, with opposing views, including their core beliefs. There were discussions of having the two characters meet, though the plans were largely dormant. Herrera was selected as the Featured Article of the Month on March 2011. Category:Articles by LaviBookman Category:Arrancar